A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c8.s3.129

c8.s3.129

The view of the origin of kingship in the Buddhist canon is beyond doubt one of its most notable contributions to Hindu political thought. In saying this we are not unmindful of the remarkable anticipations of this theory in some of the Brāhmaṇa texts. But while the Vedic author sets forth what he conceives to be the source of the divine sovereignty of Indra, the Buddhist canonist attempts in the following passages to trace the origin of the human kingship, for the first time so far as we are aware, to its roots in a hypothetical State of Nature. The Buddhist author moreover introduces, apparently for the first time, the notion of an original compact as forming the foundation of the political order. In its fuller form, as an incident, that is, in the evolution of man and of society, the theory occurs in a well-known passage of the Dīghanikāya. There the Brāhmaṇa Vaseṭṭha (Vasiṣṭha) is introduced as asking Buddha whether the Brāhmaṇa's claim of precedence over the other classes was justified or not. In refuting this claim, the Master traces the history of creation since the end of the period of dissolution of the world. At first the people were altogether perfect—having no corporeal body, living in satisfaction, resplendent, capable of traversing the air, and long-living. As they declined more and more from their original state of purity, there gradually appeared among them the differences of colour and of sex, while the institutions of family and property, punishment and the division of the four classes, were introduced into their midst by a series of mutual agreements. The origin of kingship is described in this connection in the following way. When it was found that theft had appeared in the society, the people assembled together, and agreed to choose as king one who would punish those deserving punishment, blame those deserving blame, banish those deserving banishment and in return would get a share of paddy from the people. Then they selected the most beautiful gracious and powerful individual among themselves and made a contract with him on the above terms. He was called Great Elect (Mahāsammata) for being chosen by a great multitude of men (mahājana-sammata), Kṣatriya as he was lord of the fields (khettānam pati), and king (rājan) as he delighted (rañjeti) the others in accordance with the law.∗ A shorter version of the above theory, which concerns itself exclusively with the origin of monarchy and treats even this somewhat perfunctorily, since it does not mention the original state of nature at all, may be found in a passage of the Sanskrit Buddhist canonical work, the Mahāvastu Avadānam. There the Buddha is represented as recounting to the assembled monks the story of the origin of kingship. The creatures, so runs the story in substance, assembled together and agreed among themselves to choose one that was the most gracious and mighty of them all, for the purpose that the latter might punish those deserving punishment and cherish those deserving to be cherished. Then the creatures fixed their choice upon an individual of the above type and induced him, in return for their own payment of one-sixth of the produce of the paddy fields, to undertake the task of punishing the wicked and favouring the good. This person was called Mahāsammata, as he was chosen by a large mass of people (mahājana-sammata).[^\dagger]